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Katrina Styx

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Katrina Styx has been a reporter for the Hastings Star Gazette since 2010. She has a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in journalism from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. Prior to coming to Hastings, Katrina reported for weekly newspapers in Jordan, Minn., and River Falls, Wis.

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Angela Beissel remembers when she was a girl, when she and her friends would go down to the tennis courts just to hit balls across the courts until the lights shut off at night. It didn't matter if they knew how to play or not. It was just fun. It's an attitude she shares with three other Hastings women: Abby Beytien-Carlson, Angela Ferguson and Taylor Reiners. But for these four, playing for fun has earned them a spot in the United States Tennis Association's national tournament, held Sept.

Twenty-two years ago, the movie "Field of Dreams" hit the big screen. Its popularity led one Twin Cities newspaper to feature one of the area's own field of dreams - the home of the Miesville Mudhens. A 4-year-old boy was pictured in the article. He was Stephen Edlefsen, the team's bat boy. His father, Brad Edlefsen, was a pitcher for the Mudhens, so it's no surprise Stephen got involved. Baseball proved to be an important aspect of his life.

Those waiting to hear the results of a reuse study on the old Hudson Manufacturing property will have to wait just a little bit longer. The study, originally scheduled to be released around Sept. 1, has been delayed about a month, said Community Development Director John Hinzman. The reason for the delay is no surprise. Since the reuse study contract is through the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the state shutdown in July meant the study was put on hold as well.

One Hastings man is getting an in-depth look at what it takes to design, build and study a wind turbine. The project is run by Eolos, a wind energy research consortium that conducts a broad range of wind energy research. It's biggest project is a field research station at UMore Park in Rosemount, where it is in the process of constructing a 2.5 megawatt wind turbine. Chris Milliren of Hastings has been helping out with the project since January, assisting the associate director. Milliren is a senior civil engineering student at the University of Minnesota.

This Saturday, Aug. 27, the boys on the Hastings High School varsity and junior varsity soccer teams will step out of their usual roles as students and become coaches. The team is working with HFC United to host a Soccer Olympics for youth enrolled in the HFC program.

There's something special about being able to play a game under the lights at Todd Field. Hastings High School boys' varsity soccer coach Shane Lanning remembers one of his own final games in the HHS soccer program. It was a section finals game at Todd Field which was illuminated by the giant overhead lights. The game didn't finish until about 9:30 p.m. It was the lights that made the field special, he said. "The lights are the atmosphere there, from the alumni standpoint," he said. And the lights are one reason he and his team host an annual alumni game.

On a wall calendar inside Judge's Appliance, there's a note written in the upper left corner. It's a short note, mostly numbers. Aug. 26, 2010, 1:26 p.m., it reads. The note marks a memorable Thursday afternoon for owner Tom Judge. It was at that exact time he called the Hastings Fire Department to his store along 33rd Street to extinguish a fire that was eating away his storefront and choking the rest of his building with smoke. By the time the fire had been extinguished, the place was a mess.

Is Hastings a great place to live? The people of Hastings have spoken, and the answer is a resounding yes. In a survey conducted of 400 randomly selected Hastings households, residents rated city government, services, safety and parks and recreation. Overall, responses were largely positive. "Your ratings are consistently top of the range," said Bill Morris of Decision Resources, Inc., the company that conducted the survey for the city. What do people like most about Hastings?

It's taken a good portion of the year to move a new park and ride lot in downtown Hastings into the action stage, but it's finally happening. Community Development Director John Hinzman told the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority last Thursday that the easements needed to move ahead with the project have been acquired from CP Rail. Design work should begin this year yet, with construction to be done early in 2012. The lot will be located in the south two-thirds of the empty block between Second and Third streets and east of Tyler Street.

An effort to move a part of the Hastings trail system off of County Road 46/47 is now under way. City staff are working to acquire the necessary easements to build a trail along the Vermillion River between 31st Street and Pleasant Drive.